Day 736

• Historic day at the national NCAA swimming championships -- Lia Thomas wins the 500 yard freestyle, becoming the first known out transgender to win a national championship in any NCAA sport or division.
• Yes, there were numerous protests.  I, eventually, do want to make my feelings clear on the bigotry and all, but I want to do it in a way to disparage them (and the completely warped nature of what women's sports are and how they really exist only as very negative constructs anymore -- and that's high school all the way to Olympic and professional level!) and not the athletes.
• According to the current standings, about 2% of the millions of NCAA brackets submitted to ESPN have all of the first eight games correct.
• There were three seed upsets:  A 9, an 11, and a 12.
• And anyone who thinks the Green Bay Packers are winning next year's Super Bowl can please stop right damn now.  The Aaron Rodgers sabotage is alive and well.  Many thought that keeping him would get the Packers to keep Davante Adams.
• Adams has just been traded to Las Vegas for two draft picks.
• And it looks like the Perfect Bracket Challenge can be feasibly closed, as St. Peter's College -- the Peacocks -- took down #2 seed Kentucky (in what should be #SucceedAndProceed's last game!) in overtime!  Only about 1% of the brackets got to the second half of Day One, but this SHOULD do it.
• With four games to go, a 9, an 11, two 12's, and a 15 have won today.
• I guess not!!!  Even WITH Kentucky losing, however -- perfect brackets are up about a half over last year, according to the NCAA.com blog which monitors them for the balance of the tournament.  Last year, there were 121 perfect brackets last year.
• This year, with 161 ESPN, 14 Yahoo, 9 CBS, and 8 NCAA.com perfects, there are 192.
• No perfect brackets survived more than a day and a half last year, with the last 80 falling when UConn fell to Maryland.
• Higher seeds were 10-6 for the day.  Two 9's, two 12's, and an 11 and a 15 won today.
• And if you feel bad about today, don't.  38 of the 54 ESPN college basketball staff polled said Kentucky would win their regional.
• Dick Vitale had them cutting down the nets in New Orleans.  I think he has bigger victories to celebrate right now.